Yes, you might think that this article is totally no-brainer. I can imagine many of you cringing at this title. But you’ll be surprised. If misused, these simple contraptions you chuck in your ear every single day can pose a threat to your health! Yes, I’m not kidding at all. As the use of headphones and earphones continue to rise and become more popular, especially among the teens, hearing loss and other ear-related health problems have become more prevalent. Furthermore, I feel that not much has been done by health authorities to educate the public. Thus, this article will show you exactly why and how improper usage of earphones or headphones can damage your health. Before you continue reading, do follow me and subscribe to my newsletter! Without further ado, let’s begin.
#1: It Can Cause Deafness
This sounds obvious. However, this problem has become more common among teenagers and adults alike. Listening to music at unsafe volume levels can cause permanent hearing loss. “But how? Earphones are so small!” Despite their small size, these little, innocuous-looking objects can generate high volumes of sounds. To put things in perspective, motorcycles generate about 100 decibels of sound. On the other hand, an MP3 player at 70% of its top volume can give out 85 decibels of sound. “But what does this mean for my ear?” Let’s see this from a scientific perspective. The cochlea, which is a part of the ear, contain tiny, minute hair cells, which function to relay acoustic information to the brain. These hair cells can be damaged by loud noise and once they are so, they can never regenerate. This leads to gradual hearing loss and many people don’t notice it until it’s simply too late.
#2: It Is Linked With A Growing Number Of Road Accidents
Earphones can pose as a form of distraction, especially while driving or simply crossing the street. The use of earphones removes our auditory awareness of our surroundings and we will be unable to sense danger around us. For instance, you might not be able to hear a car honking at you, or a truck skidding towards you. Furthermore, many become engrossed with the music they are listening with, thereby causing them to lose focus of their surroundings and worsening reaction time in critical situations. Our mind simply does not have the ability to multitask. What’s even more shocking is that 1 in 4 of Americans aged between 18 to 34 admitted to finding themselves in at least one hazardous situation while wearing headphones in the year 2018.
#3: Increased Risks Of Infection
When used for prolonged periods of time, both sweat and moisture accumulate around the headphones. This provides a suitable environment for the growth of bacteria and fungi alike. On a similar note, people living in coastal cities where humidity is high, have a higher risk of suffering from ear infections. When earphones are used, air flow into the ears are blocked, thereby also facilitating the multiplication of microbes. Furthermore, sharing your earphones with your loved ones and friends may increase the chances of them getting infected too.
Conclusion
This article is a short one. Nonetheless, I hope that it did help you to understand the potential side effects of headphone misuse and overuse. If you did find this post helpful to you in any way, do consider giving it a like! Do follow me and subscribe to my newsletter if you haven’t done so already. Thanks for reading!
BestOfWrite 